Around Preston

I walked a short way down the Lancaster Canal, from the Hand and Dagger today. The pub used to be called the Clifton Arms, and I have a feeling the coat of arms featured a hand holding a dagger, and got known unofficially as the Hand and Dagger before adopting the name officially. It is a nice pub, with good beer and friendly staff. And unlike most pubs in the area, still open. You can see the bridge over the canal to the right of the pub in the photo. This is that bridge, seen from the north side - the pub is at the top of the bank on the right. The photo above is where the Hodder Aqueduct crosses the canal. It provides Blackpool with water from Stocks Reservoir at the head of the River Hodder, and for some distance runs along the road the pub is on, but diverges briefly at this point to cross the canal. Stocks Reservoir dates from 1932, so I assume this structure is from more or less then too. The canal heads south through a narrow cutting. When I was there, I saw a few dozen she...

 I recently discovered Preston has two Watery Lanes - as well as a Water Lane. The better known one is near the docks, and meets the Strand at its the northwest end. The rather smaller one is in French Wood, off Fishwick View, south of New Hall Lane. It heads down to the Guild Wheel. It is steep - the sign says 60% - and I would worry about slipping when it is wet and there are a lot of leaves on the ground. However, on a nice day it is a good starting point for a couple of interesting walks. Up river At the bottom of the lane is a farm, and the Guild Wheel. Turn left, to head up river. The track is a little way from the river at this point. The photo below is looking across the floodplain towards Walton-le-Dale, the river just this side of the tree line in the distance. The river meanders to the north, to meet the path. The path then runs along side the river for some distance, the rumble of the M6 getting gradually louder, before we get to the A59, and, on the opposite side, the ...

I have a vague plan to walk the length of the canal,. but only in short sections. I did the southern section last week, and the start of the north section a couple of years ago, and the latter determined the start of this journey. This, then, is where the Woodplumpton Road crosses the canal, and as far as I walked last time. The green scum seems to be quite a feature, and is apparently pennywort. I have seen a boat on the canal skimming it off, but clearly there is more work to be done. It does seem popular with swans; I have seen numerous on the canal. These cygnets look almost adult. A short way further along, there is a sluice. This mechanism would keep the canal the right depth. It is a reminder of the engineering involved. from Preston the canal heads north for 43 miles, perfectly flat the whole way. Pretty incredible for ca. 1800. Overflow from the canal goes over the sluice, and I guess then goes left to drop down into Savick Brook, which we will encounter later. The building on...

Haslam Park sits between Tom Benson way and the Lancaster Canal, northwest Preston. Preston has several parks, and this has to be the easiest to miss. A high fence carefully screens any sign of it from Tom Benson Way, and around most of the rest of its periphery, access is from a number of dead-ends off suburban streets no one will just happen upon, and there seems to be no signage - not until you have got out of the car, and walked into the park. The park dates from 1910 - which I think makes it the most recent park - and second largest after Moor Park. It has sports facilities and a playground. The north section is less formally maintained and kept as a nature reserve, though it was in the south section that I saw squirrels. This is the entrance from Cottam Lane. It looks impressive, but to find it, you have to know it is here, to venture under the railway and road. It is telling that the car park has space for just five cars. The main entrance is from Blackpool Road. That is pretty ...

 Over the last year or so I have tracing the route of the Old Tramway - that is all on another website . The tramway was built to connect to the two sections of the Lancaster Canal, which was built to connect Wigan with Lancaster and Kendal, and undoubted had a big hand in kickstarting the industrial revolution in Preston. Today, I explored where the Lancaster Canal meets the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Construction of the Leeds Liverpool Canal started in 1770, well before the Lancaster Canal, which was not started until 1792. Nevertheless, it was the Lancaster Canal that was built between Westhoughton and Chorley, and the Leeds Liverpool Canal then built connecting spurs to that, and paid tolls to use it. This was later an annual fee, and later still it just became part of the Leeds Liverpool Canal. I guess at some point it got widened. The Lancaster Canal is mostly a fairly standard width, while the Leeds Liverpool Canal is significantly wider - so much so that it was able to con...

Bamber Bridge is only a few miles from where I live, but for some reason I have only been there a handful of times. I find it a fascinating place because of the wide variety of interesting, if not necessarily attractive, building down the main street. It is odd in that it has only grown in one direction. The original village was where Ye Old Hob is, next to the A6. From there it spread northwards, up what used to be the A6, and is now the B6258. That said, the nicest part is the short road east of Ye Old Hob, Church Road, which I guess was also the A6 at one time, but is now a cul-de-sac. This is St Saviour's church, which is officially in Cuerden.  Opposite is a Victorian school that is still in use. About halfway between the school and the Old Hob was the Queen Inn, which closed in 2002, and was demolished to make way for housing. It was built before 1845, but despite being there for over a century and a half there is a strange dearth of images of it on the internet! The Old Hob,...